BEMIDJI, Minn.  – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (20-7, 15-6 NSIC) secured its 15^th win in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play on Friday night with a 100-86 victory over Bemidji State (10-17, 7-14 NSIC).

With a record of 15-6 in conference play, the Golden Bears officially secured their highest conference win total in program history, besting the previous mark of 14-8 in the 2014-15 season. The win was also an important milestone in the all-time series between the Beavers and Bears, breaking a 20-20 tie to give CSP a 21-20 edge in the series. It was just Concordia's sixth win in Bemidji all time, and the first since November 24, 2015.

Senior guard Antwan Kimmons led the Golden Bears on offense, pouring in 27 points on 11-of-22 shooting while pulling down five rebounds and dishing five assists.

Sophomore Ben Kopetzki nearly reached the 20-point mark, finishing with 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting to go along with three assists, two rebounds, and a steal. Senior Marcus Skeete notched his sixth double-double of the season, tallying 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting to go along with 11 rebounds, two steals, and an assist.

Junior Reid Patterson continued his hot streak off the bench, going 3-of-5 from beyond the arc and 4-of-7 overall to score 14 points in 18 minutes of playing time, helping the Bears to a 22-11 advantage in bench points.

The Beavers took an early 5-3 lead and another lead at 7-6 after Concordia briefly took a 6-5 lead, but those proved to be BSU's only advantages of the half as CSP jumped on top at 8-7 and went on a 27-12 run to carve out a 33-19 advantage with 9:03 remaining in the half. The Beavers fought back to get within three at 45-42, but Concordia managed to extend its lead back to seven by halftime at 54-47.

The Beavers came out hot in the second half, using a 12-4 scoring run last 3:33 to regain the advantage at 60-59 with 15:30 on the clock. Two ties followed in the minutes immediately after the lead change, but a 31-9 extended run by the Golden Bears lasting nearly 10 minutes gave Concordia a 22-point lead at 98-76 with 3:01 to play. The margin shrunk slightly before the final buzzer, with CSP eventually securing the 14-point win.

The Beavers were slightly more efficient shooting the ball, knocking down 34 of their 68 attempts (50%) while the Bears finished 39-of-81 (48.1%) from the floor. CSP shot better from beyond the arc, going 11-of-29 (37.9%) while BSU went 6-of-19 (31.6%). Concordia outrebounded Bemidji State 38-33 and dominated the offensive glass by a margin of 12-6 to outscore BSU 15-6 in second chance points. Turnovers provided another significant advantage for the Golden Bears, with a 10-4 edge in turnovers leading to an 18-4 advantage in points off turnovers.

John Pecarich matched Kimmons with a game-high 27 points for the Beavers while John Sutherland logged a 26-point, 13-rebound double-double for BSU.  

The Golden Bears will wrap up the regular season on Saturday in Crookston, Minn. with a game against Minnesota Crookston (4-17, 5-22 NSIC). Concordia is currently in a three-way tie atop the NSIC standings with Southwest Minnesota State and Minnesota State, but a win on Saturday would guarantee at least a share of the conference title and a first-round bye that would automatically advance the Golden Bears to the quarterfinals of the conference tournament at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.